


Spearmint

by NothingRiddikulus



Category: Cosmere - Brandon Sanderson, Stormlight Archive - Brandon Sanderson
Genre: Bad Puns, F/F, Fluff, also Shallan being a Nerd, coffee shop AU, this fic includes a cameo from Rysn's pot of grass becasue Tyvnk is my favourite character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-01
Updated: 2017-05-01
Packaged: 2018-10-26 12:39:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10786917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NothingRiddikulus/pseuds/NothingRiddikulus
Summary: Rysn’s hair was up in a messy bun, but a few soft strands of it had come loose, and they framed her face perfectly. Shallan wanted more than anything to draw her.Shallan is in love with a regular at her café job, and must seduce her with puns.





	Spearmint

Shallan’s hands shook with nerves as she handled her customer’s change. She almost dropped it. This was not her fault, she reasoned with herself, but her customer’s. The girl (her name was Rysn) was very beautiful. Very. Was needing money the main reason Shallan worked in a café? Yes. Was this girl (her name was Rysn and it should not make Shallan blush to even think her name) also a good reason for Shallan to work in a café? Also yes.

Rysn came by almost every morning to buy a flapjack and a latte. She always had perfect eyeliner and she looked effortlessly fashionable. She spoke in a loud voice and seemed cool but a little goofy. She was _perfect_. Shallan was a little in love.

About two weeks ago, Shallan had begun using Rysn’s name when she served her, and initiated a brief conversation. Rysn was now firmly acknowledged as a regular and the two of them were free to stop acting like a random café worker and a random customer, and to start acting like acquaintances, possibly friends. Yesterday Shallan had drawn a little doodle on Rysn’s coffee as well as her name, and Rysn had called it cute. Shallan had nearly died. To be honest, if she ever managed to initiate a romantic relationship with this goddess, she probably _would_ die. Shallan had prepared five science puns to use on Rysn today, but now that plan was useless.

Because now, Rysn was holding a large flowerpot full of grass.

That kind of thing did not happen every day. If that kind of thing did happen, you commented on it. You did not make completely unrelated puns. If she wanted to display your prowess as a pun maker, she would have to quickly make up a pun about the grass. Normally, making up jokes on the spot was a particular skill of Shallan’s, but unfortunately, right now she was, well… _distracted_. 

(Rysn’s hair was up in a messy bun, but a few soft strands of it had come loose, and they framed her face perfectly. Shallan wanted more than anything to draw her.)

Shallan placed Rysn’s change in her hand, and her stomach churned. This was her last chance to say something witty.

‘I like your grass’, she said, and promptly screamed internally.

‘Thanks’, Rysn replied, snorting a little. ‘My teacher gave the whole class one. I think it’s meant to teach us… responsibility? Or something? We have to carry them around everywhere for a week. It’s not so bad, but I wish I’d gotten a more interesting plant. The kid next to me got a venus flytrap. I got grass. It’s boring.’ She pouted a little.

‘Grass… grass isn’t boring! It’s actually one of the world’s oldest organisms, there are species of it that date back 200,00 years! And its evolved to grow from the base instead of the top, to protect itself and bamboo is a type of grass which… um… everyone thinks bamboo is cool…’ Shallan wanted to run and hide. She was an idiot, and no way did Rysn want to know fun facts about grass and-

‘Wow’, said Rysn, looking genuinely impressed. ‘You’re _smart_ ’

‘I, uh, like biology’. Shallan smiled sheepishly.

‘That’s how you drew that super accurate little sunflower on my cup yesterday?’

‘Oh, I um, also like to draw. I major in biology though.’

‘Huh. I’m studying economics. You should text me some time to talk about plants?’ Rysn chewed her lip for a second, pulled a piece of paper with a phone number on it out of her pocket and slammed it down on the counter. Then she went bright red. She swore very softly. ‘Can we uh, pretend I wrote my number down for you spontaneously? And that I haven’t been trying to make an excuse to give it to you for weeks now?’

‘Depends’, said Shallan, a warm blush spreading over her face. ‘Can we pretend I wasn’t far too distracted by your pretty face to even clock the implications of you having already written your number down?

Rysn stared at her for a good few seconds, getting redder and redder all the while. ‘So to clarify?’, she asked, fiddling nervously with her hair and holding back a smile, ‘we’re just going to pretend that neither of us struggle to think clearly when faced with a pretty girl?’

‘Sounds about right’. Shallan quickly made Rysn’s latte, something she could do with her eyes shut by now. She scrawled Rysn’s name on it and, with a new burst of confidence (learning that a girl found you pretty gave you that kind of courage), decided to draw her.

She glanced at Rysn quickly (her blush had died down, and she seemed able to breathe again now), and committed her to memory. It didn’t take her long to transfer the picture in her mind onto the cup, albeit not in as much detail as she might have managed with her nice drawing pencils and a flat sheet of paper. She added some leaves around the sketch, and handed the cup to Rysn.

‘Oh wow’, Rysn breathed. ‘That’s… you’re so good at art!’

‘Well, when your muse is so pretty…’ Shallan grinned and gestures to Rysn, who blushed and then laughed to loudly and joyfully that the whole café turned to stare at her.

‘Can I ask’, said Rysn, ‘what the leaves are for? As in, are they symbolic of something? I’m not actually sure what they _are_ ’.

‘They’re spearmint’, Shallan told her, a grin spreading over her face.

‘…Because?’

‘Because’, said Shallan, grin spreading even wider, ‘because we’re _mint_ to be!’


End file.
